Burger Golf Clubs, Floating Crackers and More: Early Summer's Standout Promos

The season of pools, patios and promotional products is upon us. As you work with clients to plan summer promo campaigns, take a cue from the creativity on display from these big brands.

Balling With an Arby’s Burger

Arby’s combines golfing and grilling with its new, limited-edition Arby’s Burger Driver

Think of a stereotypical, suburban father: What are the two activities that immediately come to mind?

If you said golfing and grilling, you should apply for a job on Arby’s marketing team.

The sandwich chain combined the two activities with its limited-edition Arby’s Burger Driver, a golf club that looks like a halved cheeseburger. Ideal as a Father’s Day gift or just a driver of conversation in a golf bag, the limited-edition burger club was available via a sweepstakes on Arby’s site.

Underwater Airheads?

Craving chlorine-water taffy? Check out the new Airheads underwater vending machine.

Generations of parents have warned their children to wait 30 minutes after eating before going for a swim. Airheads disagrees – the candy company wants you to eat in the pool.

Airheads is selling an underwater vending machine. Instead of soaking some cash or waterproofing a credit card, those hankering for taffy “pay” by performing submerged tricks. The machine issues prompts like “do a backflip” or “do the robot,” and when completed, an air-powered candy propulsion system projects a package of Airheads. In other words, swimmers “pay with fun.”

Airheads said in its promotional video that most adults swam more when they were kids, and presented this solution to draw people back in the pool. If you can hold your breath, read underwater, want an included lifetime supply of Airheads and have an extra $7,000 to burn, consider the underwater vending machine at airheadssummer.com.

The Pool-Proof Cheez-It

Chill on this Cheez-It this summer.

Cheez-It has finally done it: The brand has made a cracker that’s functional when soggy.

There’s just one catch – you can’t eat it.

The inflatable Cheez-It Floatie is perfect for baking in the sun or taunting seagulls at the beach with a snack they can’t steal. In addition to the floatie, Cheez-It offers an array of branded merch on its website, including nail polish, blankets and pickleball paddles, to make summer a little cheesier.

Life Is Good With Beer

This Life is Good and Harpoon Brewery collab captures the joy of a cold beer on a hot summer day.

The post-work beer. The shower beer. The second beer.

Context can amplify the joys of sipping a brew, but few are better than the summer beer.

Leaned back on a beach chair, sand in between your toes, Jimmy Buffett serenading your ears and a cold, crisp beer in your hand … it’s hard to complain in those tender moments.

Harpoon Brewery and Life is Good collaborated to capture that feeling in the brewery’s new hazy blonde ale, Summer Style, and the clothing company’s coinciding merchandise drop. Shirts depict the iconic Life is Good stick figure enjoying a delectable summer beer while chilling in some of the season’s greatest settings: on a floatie, at the beach and watching the sunset with a dog. Harpoon is also offering a glass with the designs, plus a fabric beverage bucket that holds ice and a six-pack.

You can find the merchandise on www.lifeisgood.com and shop.harpoonbrewery.com. There’s also a sweepstakes to win a Harpoon-branded Yeti cooler, Life is Good beach chairs and other goodies.